Since the inception of automated test systems or automated test equipment, engineers have struggled with managing the life expectancy of the overall test system (and component instruments) against the life expectancy of the electronic equipment being tested.
These systems are an integration of disparate instruments and devices under a shared common operating environment and shared communication protocols to act as a single entity.
The test program set (TPS) is an integrated function of both test station system software, inclusive of test integration and development tools, and the end item application software or automatic test program sets developed to execute on a particular ATS or ATE.
There have similarly been embodied in these systems a number of test standards, test methods and philosophies, and test tools developed to deliver more cost effective solutions for single and multiple user environments. Early versions were typically company proprietary and often, no standard existed to guide interoperability of different products. Today's solutions leverage commercial technology and standards through the use of what is often termed open architecture; however, these solutions don't readily apply themselves to legacy systems.
As the useful life of automatic test systems is extended, instruments in such automatic test systems invariably become obsolete and need to be replaced with newer instruments that may not function within the legacy ATS architecture. For example, a new instrument may not have a compatible instruction set or communications interface to enable its use within the legacy automatic test system. Additionally, the interdependence of the test program and the ATS instruments further compounds the problem of new instrument insertion, and typically requires test program changes.
These factors make it cost prohibitive to introduce new instruments into a legacy automatic test system.
In order to deliver the most cost effective solution in the long term, namely continuous transparent obsolescence, each ATS subsystem or component needs to be protected from obsolescence, or at a minimum, its obsolescence rendered mitigatable.
Accordingly, the invention seeks to adopt what is reusable and can be replenished via multiple sources or can be duplicated in-house within the confines of the ATS and TPS boundaries.